Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: Jan. 7, 2020
Purchase Link: Amazon
My Rating: 5 Broken Hearts
*With special thanks to Wednesday Books for an arc of this book via Netgalley.
Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz’s thrilling novel Jane Anonymous is a revelatory confessional of a seventeen-year-old girl’s fight to escape a kidnapper—and her struggles to connect with loved ones and a life that no longer exists.
Synopsis:
Seven months. That’s how long I was kept captive.
Locked in a room with a bed, refrigerator, and adjoining bathroom, I was instructed to eat, bathe, and behave. I received meals, laundered clothes, and toiletries through a cat door, never knowing if it was day or night. The last time I saw the face of my abductor was when he dragged me fighting from the trunk of his car. My only solace was Mason—one of the other kidnapped teens—and our pact to one day escape together. But when that day finally came, I had to leave him behind.
Now that I’m home, my parents and friends want everything to be like it was before I left. But they don’t understand that dining out and shopping trips can’t heal what’s broken inside me. I barely leave my bedroom. Therapists are clueless and condescending. So I start my own form of therapy—but writing about my experience awakens uncomfortable memories, ones that should’ve stayed buried.
When I ask the detectives assigned to my case about Mason, I get an answer I don’t believe—that there were no traces of any other kidnapped kids. But I distinctly remember the screams, holding hands with Mason through a hole in my wall, and sharing a chocolate bar. I don’t believe he wasn’t really there and I’m determined to find him. How far will I have to go to uncover the truth of what happened—and will it break me forever?
Review:
To say I was totally unprepared for the impact this compelling book had on me is an understatement. From Jane's first written words in her journal to her message to readers on the last page, I found it hard to breathe. Jane Anonymous is the gripping, heart-wrenching story of a seventeen year old girl's kidnapping, her struggles to escape captivity with body and mind intact, and her inability to merge back into her old life with family and friends once she came home. Jane was held in captivity for seven grueling months during which time she discovered she could communicate through the wall with a fellow victim in the next room. This communication became her lifeline to reality - another driving force to keep trying to escape. Please avoid reviews that contain spoilers. Readers need to feel Jane's utter despair and devastation as well as her strong will to survive first-hand to understand what happens in the end.
This story unfolds through two timelines - now & then, and is told exclusively from Jane's point of view. In the now, prayers have been answered and Jane is back home with her family, but she's now a prisoner of her own mind and the four walls of her room as she struggles to deal with memories, nightmares, and the trauma of captivity as well as guilt over the one she left behind. She can't return to normal because she doesn't recognize herself in her old life - she's no longer the girl she was before. In the then, readers are in Jane's head within the four walls of a small, locked room watching as she struggles to keep her sanity. We know from the beginning that Jane does eventually escape, but at what cost? Her life is forever shattered into pieces around her. She can't begin to find her way back until she deals with the aftermath and acknowledges the lost pieces of the puzzle taunting her to remember.
Jane Anonymous is an intense, fast-paced story that speaks of control, guilt, anger, mental health, survival, and the emotional struggle of victims to become whole again. To acknowledge, accept, and thus gain control of one's life again. Through short chapters, the author accelerates the pace forward at an intense, rapid rate making for a compulsive, angst-filled read. With few characters, the attention focuses almost solely on Jane, essentially becoming an exclusive character study of her before and after. The swing back and forth between past and present serves to keep readers slightly off-balance in an urgent must-read-now kind of way. While I'm not in the intended age target range for this book, I had no problem becoming totally consumed by it as I simply could not put it down. While I can't say I didn't see the surprise ending coming, it in no way lessened my enjoyment of this unique, brilliantly written young adult thriller. Jane Anonymous is the gripping story of a young girl's emotional journey back from being broken to becoming whole again. A fantastic story that I highly recommend no matter your age!
My Rating: 5 Broken Hearts...
Cross My Heart . . . xxx
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